Our Third (and maybe final) theater!

[audioguy]

As a "disclaimer" I have been in the audio business on and off for about 30 years. Marketing Director for Cambridge Technologies (the original digital room correction system) for 10 years; sold audio out of my home for about 8 years; was a dealer for TacT audio (would still be if they were more active) and RPG acoustics, and a bunch of other stuff. I have done all of this while having regular "corporate" jobs and in the last 10 years, my own small company. These audio adventures were for two reasons: (1)I love the hobby and (2) I need money to feed the "addiction". I'm not sure that hard core drugs might not be less expensive (but much more damaging to me and those I love) .

My original Multi Media Room (the term “Home Theater” was not yet used much) was in the early 80's that consisted of a 50 inch Mitsubishi TV, a Laser Disk Player, VCR and some Klipsch copy cat speakers.

Then in the early 90’s, I visited a high end audio dealer in Beverly Hills and saw my first real home theater consisting of the original Snell THX speakers, a Sony 1271 projector (I think that was the model) and a Frox control system. I returned home a copied the same thing in my home …. And the ugradeitis (can we say “addiction”) has not stopped. I have owned Wilson speakers, Theil speakers, Dunlavy speakers and a bunch of others. I have owned about 10 to 15 different subs, excluding what I now have and a multitude of SSP’s. For where I am in life, what I now own is more than satisfactory. But on rare occasion, the itch still requires scratching --- just because.

The first huge improvement in my "current" system came when I went from dual Velodyne DD-18’s AND dual SVS PB-13’s to dual Seaton SubMersives. I ended up with 4 because the 2 were not symmetrical and I am way to anal for that. Another huge improvement came with the Integra 80.2 with Audyssey X-32 over my previous Onkyo 885 that had the previous version of Audyssey. Changing out my Dunlavy VI’s for Seaton Catalyst 12’s was a serious upgrade in every way, particularly in dynamics and center channel articulation; upgrading my JVC RS2 to the JVC RS55 was a great improvement (picture clarity and brightness) and almost lastly, moving from two rear Dunlavy surrounds to 4 Seaton Sparks for sides and rears. Lastly was the Darbee Darblet. Easily the most bang for the buck improvement I have ever made.

I am currently experimenting with the Anti-Mode 2.0 Dual Core to further enhance the capability of my woofage. First experiments were reasonably impressive.

Current Equipment:

VIDEO EQUIPMENT:

JVC RS55 w/ Powered Anamorphic Lens
Screen Masking System by Somis Systems
Stewart Filmscreen 2:35 120 x 51 inch screen (1.3 Gain)
Lumagen XD Video Processor
DARBEE DARBLET High-Defintion Image Enhancer

SPEAKERS:

LCR: Seaton Catalysts Powered Speakers on sand-filled Seaton Stands
SUBS: Seaton SubMersive HP (4);
Surrounds: Seaton Sparks (4) Powered Speakers

ELECTRONICS:

Integra 80.2 SSP (with Audyssey Pro)
APS 1050 Power Conditioner
APS 2000 Power Conditioner

SOURCES:

Music Vault Diamond Music Server (J River and J Remote for controlling my music server)
Oppo BD83 Bluray Player
DirecTV DVR

ROOM STUFF:

Theater chairs by Berkline
RPG BAD Panels
RPG BAD ARC Panels
Acoustic Panels by GIK
RPG Skylines

MISCELLANEOUS:

BlueJeans Interconnect Cables (XLR and Single Ended)
Monoprice XLR interconnects
Control4 Equipment Controller


Room is 22.5 feet long; 17.5 feet wide with 9.75 foot ceilings. Bass traps in sofits and all four corners


My equipment is in the room adjoining the theater (where the universal exercise equipment is in this photo). There are about ten (10) 20 amp dedicated (not isolated) circuits in the theater and another 5 in the equipment room. Over time I have gone from about 30+ pieces of equipment to run the theater to 6 (excluding the 11 Seaton Speakers in my theater). So I now use ONE of those dedicated circuits in the equipment room to run everything and the only thing plugged into it is an APS 1050 Power Conditioner. Everything else is plugged into the APS including the PJ as what looks like an outlet on the theater ceiling is actually one end of the equivalent of an extension cord.

The first one is of the yet to be built theater. The two windows are on what is now the front wall. Another wall was built in front of that wall to get the room dimensions more in line with what was needed:



Another of the original room. We had a few pipes that we had to relocate



The new front wall in place:



Soffit traps being framed.



This photo shows the diffusion system that was built into the rear ceiling and is covered in fabric. The front of the room was the same but I had a HUGE null that was corrected by dry walling the front ceiling and suspending GIK bass traps --- no more null



My media is in the equipment room. All of my CDs are now on a server and I have gotten rid of all my analog stuff (to many Blurays/DVD's and too much music and too little time).



First completed one is the rear wall. On the right rear surround you can see the power cord hanging down. The Sparks come with about a 450 mile power cord and I need two feet so I ordered 4 short cords and replaced the longer ones. Those are RPG Skylines on the rear wall.



Next up is the front view, with speaker grills off but I don't keep them that way.



Left front wall showing RPG BAD ARC panels. The stands for the mains are built by Seaton and in my case are filled with about 100 pounds of sand. So we have about 260 pounds of dead weight. VERY inert and very heavy.



Side channel Spark



So there it is. When I built the room, I made a conscious decision to go for function over form. The wall color is that of a neutral gray card for any of you who used to do photography a long time ago. I struggled with paint colors but ultimately decided to stick to gray and black. That said, even with no music playing, there is a sense of tranquility when just sitting in the room. My wife loves the "feeling" she gets being in the room.

The room is far from perfect as I have yet to completely eliminate an upper midrange glare that shows up on occasion. But with all of the bass traps (all four corners and wall/ceiling soffits) and Audyssey X32, I have no complaints about the bass.

I will be using the assistance of an acoustician to see if he can find and eliminate the upper mid range glare (much more obvious on music than movies).

We have Friday night "date night" in the theater and during non-football season, we spend Saturday nights there as often as we can.

[hometheatergeek]

Good evening buddy and I'm really glad to see you start a thread here on BR.com. You do own one of the better systems I have ever heard.

[josh96]

Welcome to the home theater gallery Audioguy. That is a very nice room you've assembled there. I love the selection of gear. It must sound amazing.

[audioguy]

Originally Posted by josh96

Welcome to the home theater gallery Audioguy. That is a very nice room you've assembled there. I love the selection of gear. It must sound amazing.

Thank you. We like the way it sounds. With all of the woofage I have, it is really fun to listen to action movies -- loud !!

[DangeRuss]

Originally Posted by josh96

Welcome to the home theater gallery Audioguy. That is a very nice room you've assembled there. I love the selection of gear. It must sound amazing.

I second his statement

[ZIPPO]

Welcome to the site & thanks for sharing your story/pics.

[bguzman]

Welcome to The Galleries audioguy,

Most impressive all the way around and I thank for sharing your HT and your story, excellent job.

[Spurrier Sucks]

Looks great, would love to hear it with all those subs.

[Almadacr]

Welcome to the galleries and that room looks top notch

[hometheatergeek]

Hi again Audioguy. Did you ge a chance to watch Dredd on your awesome HT yet? With your mini IMAX theater and 17,000 watts of power it's got to be over-the-top.

[audioguy]

Originally Posted by hometheatergeek

Hi again Audioguy. Did you ge a chance to watch Dredd on your awesome HT yet? With your mini IMAX theater and 17,000 watts of power it's got to be over-the-top.

That was the plan until I read one of the reviews that commented about skinning someone alive. My stomach would never be able to handle that

[hometheatergeek]

Originally Posted by audioguy

That was the plan until I read one of the reviews that commented about skinning someone alive. My stomach would never be able to handle that

It's less than 10 seconds in the film and the camera is very stylized so you really do not see that much. But the LFE in this movie is off the hook. My chairs shake for almost the entire movie. You have to at least give it a rent or invite me over and I will bring my copy.

[pksmith74]

Wow, I wish i had the room for something like this, but it's hard in a two bedroom crappy apartment. I will just look at all the awesome home theaters on bluray.com and dream of what could be.

[darkpoet25]

I don't know what is more impressive, your history with audio or the equipment itself.

[kurtis21]

Awesome theater!! Looks great...and I bet it even sounds better!!!